Fighting Is All That Has Ever Interested Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett will seek to add the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix title to his resume later this month when he takes on Daniel Cormier.

Barnett, a former UFC heavyweight champion, has not lost since 2006 against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. While he has traveled from country-to-country in the last 15-plus years, one thing has remained the same: he’s a fighter.

“Even when I was a little child, I fought kids that were older, that were bigger,” said Barnett, during a promo video for Showtime Sports. “I never quit. Even if someone got the best of me, I didn’t stop and they ended up quitting. I don’t care how many licks you get in on me, I will get mine.”

Barnett first saw MMA when he witnessed UFC 2 in high school. He took up the sport, and even claimed the UFC heavyweight title in 2002 with a victory over Randy Couture. Issues failed drug tests have kept Barnett out of the spotlight, but his resurgence in Strikeforce has brought him back to the forefront.

“I love what I do for a living and I don’t want to do anything else,” Barnett said. “I meant to be a fighter. If MMA wasn’t around, maybe I’d be a boxer, maybe I’d be in the military; but I was meant for combat.”